Texas consumers, and especially victims of medical malpractice received another blow this week when a federal appellate court judge ruled that the Texas “tort reform” bill of 2003 does not violate the U.S. Constitution. That law limits noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases to $250,000. Noneconomic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of quality of life.
The argument that the law is unconstitutional was based on the allegation that the damage award limits violated the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment prohibition against the state taking private property not for public use and the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause.
